Lead the architectural direction for a core Exchange domain at Coinbase, shaping a trading platform with significant impact.
Posted by employer 1 week ago
First seen on Joblaze 1 week ago
Last verified on the company career page 11 hours ago
Role intensity
40% coding
AI in the day-to-day
Utilizes generative AI responsibly, maintaining human oversight to deliver business-ready outputs.
Requirements
- Experience
- 10+ years
Not disclosed in this posting: visa sponsorship.
Benefits
Joblaze summary
In the role of Senior Staff Software Engineer at Coinbase, the individual will lead the architectural design and technical strategy for critical trading systems, ensuring high performance and reliability. Key skills include expertise in low-latency distributed systems and proficiency in backend languages like Java, C++, or Go, alongside a strong background in trading platforms. This position is ideal for seasoned engineers with a decade of experience in production trading environments, who can influence technical direction across teams. Coinbase's dynamic environment emphasizes collaboration and innovation, making it a fitting place for those eager to shape the future of finance.
Joblaze insights
- Listed 7 days ago on Joblaze — tracked directly from Coinbase's career page.
- Coinbase has 233 other open roles including Operational Excellence Senior Program Lead, Derivative Sales Analyst, Senior Strategic Program Lead.
- 1978 active Go roles on Joblaze right now.
- 1660 active C++ roles on Joblaze right now.
- 1604 active Java roles on Joblaze right now.
- Salary band is above the typical range for Backend roles (median ~$180,000).
- Pays more than 96% of the 970 salaried Go roles we track (median $164,200). See Go salary trends
Quick facts
- Is the Senior Staff Software Engineer, Institutional Exchange role remote?
- It's hybrid — Coinbase expects some on-site time in Remote - USA.
- What's the salary range?
- Coinbase lists $262,650–$309,000 for this role.
- How much experience is required?
- At least 10 years of relevant experience for this Senior Staff Software Engineer, Institutional Exchange role.
- Where is the role based?
- Coinbase is hiring for this position in Remote - USA.
- What's the tech stack?
- Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: C++, Go, Java.
- What seniority level is this role?
- Coinbase targets staff-level candidates for this position.
- Is this full-time or contract?
- Full-time for this Senior Staff Software Engineer, Institutional Exchange role at Coinbase.
From the original posting
Ready to do the most impactful work of your career? At Coinbase, we are uncompromising on our mission to increase economic freedom. The bar is high, the environment is intense, and we like it that way. This isn't a place for complacency, it’s a place to be pushed past your perceived limits. If you're ready to build the future of finance alongside people who refuse to settle for "good enough," you belong here. Coinbase is a remote-first, but not remote-only company. Expect to get together quarterly for intense in-person working sessions called “surges.” learn more about working at Coinbase.
Coinbase is building the future of institutional trading as part of the Institutional Everything Exchange, powering the systems that let the world's largest financial institutions trade across markets with speed, depth, and trust. As a Senior Staff Software Engineer on the Exchange team, you'll set the architectural direction for the matching engine, order management, market data, and unified trading systems that clear billions of dollars in daily volume. You'll operate as the most senior technical voice across multiple teams, making the calls on latency, correctness, and resilience that everything else depends on. It's a rare chance to shape a trading platform from the ground up, with the ownership of a startup and the reach of Coinbase.
What you'll do:
- Own the technical strategy and architecture for a core Exchange domain, driving multi-quarter initiatives from ambiguity through incremental milestones to delivery.
- Lead the design of ultra-low-latency, event-sourced trading systems spanning matching, risk, and market data across cloud and colocated environments.
- Drive cross-team technical alignment across Exchange, Prime, and Derivatives, securing commitment from senior engineering and product leadership.
- Set and inspect the quality bar across teams - deterministic testing, failover design, incident leadership, and operational standards for 24/7 markets.
- Maintain significant hands-on contribution while leading execution through other senior engineers and tech leads.
- Mentor L5-L6 engineers and build the next rung of technical leadership on a lean, high-leverage team.
Required Skills and Experience:
- 10+ years of software engineering experience, including significant ownership of production trading, exchange, or market-data systems at scale.
- Deep expertise in low-latency distributed systems and a backend language such as Java, C++, or Go, with fluency in JVM/Linux performance tuning.
- Demonstrated architectural ownership of an end-to-end trading platform - order management, multi-venue connectivity, and real-time risk - not a single component.
- Proven track record influencing technical direction across multiple teams without direct authority.
- Experience operating latency-sensitive systems in on-prem/colocated and cloud environments, including incident command and safe production change.
- Genuine interest in crypto and institutional markets, with the ability to ramp quickly; deep crypto experience is a plus, not a requirement.
- Utilizes generative AI responsibly, maintaining human oversight to deliver business-ready outputs and drive measurable improvements in workflow efficiency, cost, and quality.
Pay Transparency Notice: Base salary varies by location (see range below). Total compensation may also include equity and bonus eligibility, and benefits (medical, dental, vision, 401(k)).
- Application Limit: Candidates may submit a maximum of 3 applications within a 6-month period.
- Equal Opportunity Employer: Coinbase is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or genetic information. Applicants with criminal histories will be considered consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws.
- US Applicants: View Employee Rights, Know Your Rights, and E-Verify Notice of Participation.
- Accommodations: If you are an individual with a disability who needs a reasonable accommodation, email us your request and contact info at accommodations[at]coinbase.com. Need screen reading technology? Click here to download a free compatible screen reader and view the tutorial.
- Data Privacy & Arbitration: By submitting your application, you agree to our Candidate Privacy Notice. US applicants: By submitting your application, you agree to Arbitration of Disputes.